I did it! 60 Miles on a Bicycle.

On my fourth bike ride ever, I did a 62 mile ride in Aledo, TX. It was definitely the hardest thing I have ever done. Here are the details:

5:00 am: It's freakin' early. Wake up and load the bikes and start the 45-minute drive to Aledo.

6:30 am: Arrive in Aledo there are tons of cyclists here. It was insane. I didn't think cycling was this big of a sport. I felt pretty good because I was thinking with about 1200 cyclist surely I can't come in last.

7:00 am: Finally get parked (yes it's still dark outside) and head up to the table for registration. Get your packet, your map, your number, pay your money . . . and get the t-shirt. Practically the only reason why I signed up. My husband and I signed up for the 62 mile ride, the options were 8, 20, 41, 62, 75 and 100 miles. I was feeling pretty good, because I was in the harder half of the ride options.

8:00 am: And we're off. Imagine about 800 riders (75 and 100 milers started 30 minutes earlier and 8 & 20 milers started 30 minutes later) all taking off at one time on a standard road, insanity. I think the first 10 miles I was riding off of adrenaline. Fear of hitting someone and causing a domino type effect. SCARY!!!

There are breaks set up throughout the ride. Thankfully about every ten miles. I overheard a few people before we started talking about when they were going to take their breaks, or worse "if" they were even going to take a break. There was certainly no question in my mind that I was DEFINITELY going to need a break.

9:00 am: It took me about an hour to ride 10 miles. Now that is not very fast, in fact I am sure most people could peddle backwards at that speed, but hey it is ONLY MY FOURTH TIME TO RIDE.

I was feeling pretty good, when we arrived to our first break sight. I saw all the riders who were already there stopped, loading up on bananas, fruit, nuts and whatever else they could get their hands on. My husband and I decided that we felt pretty good, and so we decided not to stop.

10:00 am: We went another 10 miles down the road and made our first stop at the 20 mile mark and there took a restroom break, and got some food and drinks. There were lots of people there, so I felt like I was keeping up with the pack pretty good.

Then here came the problems ... remember I am not that fast. This is where I lost track of time. Hills, flats, downhill, winding roads, more hills. It became quite difficult. Not to mention it was windy and cold, and yes we were peddling into the wind the majority of the time it seemed.

I got to the halfway point and was feeling good, a little tired, but I knew I could keep going. The crowd was starting to thin out and I felt more comfortable. As we would reach the stop points for breaks I started to notice that there were fewer and fewer people at each. I just figured we just all thinned out a bit more and that there were plenty of people on the roads.

At one point we stopped to fix a chain and looked over to see wild turkeys in the front of a house. They were awesome ... I have never seen them in person before (at least not on a platter with stuffing inside.)

When we reached the sign that said 40 miles go right, 62 go left ... that is when we knew we had to make the decision to stick to it. I told my husband lets go and we did. It was a nice country road, and I was cruising along (at a really slow speed.)

That's when I really noticed, we are the last ones! Really I am the last one, my husband was just going slow to keep up with me.

About that time here comes this old guy, whom I like to call SMILEY. He was very nice, but had this awkward accent that kinda got on your nerves, and he decided that he was going to stay with us the rest of the time. Unfortunately he was riding a mountain bike, which apparently is like twice as difficult to ride because you have more road friction.

(My husband made the mistake earlier in the day of telling me that I should never let a mountain biker pass me, that is how I know I am going too slow, he later had to recant.)

Anyways, Smiley stayed with us all the way to the end. There were lots of moments of frustration and defeat in this ride for me. I was going up a humongous hill and my legs were so tired I couldn't get out of my clips that my feet were in. All I could think about is I am going to fall and not be able to get out. I was teary eyed and everything. Devastating. Then I got up the hill and things were fine.

Smiley and my husband kept encouraging me and telling me that I was doing great. But you know there are those times when the last thing you want is to hear that you are doing a good job and that "I am so proud of you," because really what you want to do is curse the pavement you are on!!! That is how I felt for the last 10 miles of the ride.

I am a red head however, and quite stubborn, and when the SAG wagon pulled up behind me to see if I wanted a ride in, I said no emphatically. I was obviously the last one on the course (with Smiley and my husband.)

We got within three miles of finishing the race and I had to pass under a highway to get to the access road on the other side. It was a downhill stop at a stop sign and there was tons of gravel on the ground. I took one foot out of the clip and started to put it on the ground (for those of you who don't know the bottom of your shoe is plastic, where the clip slides in.) I couldn't get my footing and a good solid stop, and that is when I was initiated into the cycling club ... I fell over.

I didn't have enough leg strength to pull my other foot out of the clip, so I struggled with that for a few minutes. Then finally got up, took a breath, hopped back on and continued on my way. I am sure the cars that were stopped at the intersection were laughing ... I wasn't!

We finally got to the finish line, and I was super excited. I had finished the race. I was hoping for a bit of fanfare, but instead I found about 20 cars in the parking lot, no doubt cleaning up from the day's events. I cycled straight to the car, sat down in the front seat and let my husband put everything up. I was EXHAUSTED.

It was a fun day, a stressful and tiring day, but fun. I can't wait to do the next ride, although hopefully I can have a bit more training before I jump into that again. I am NOT in cardio shape at all ... I reconfirmed that in my head.

I still recommend cycling as a great form of exercise, and for me a bit of adventure.

Tif